War on Terror
Some statements against Gitmo detainee from Baltimore now disputed

By Katherine Shrader

ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:33 p.m. May 15, 2007

WASHINGTON – Associates of the only U.S. resident among the 15 most dangerous detainees at Guantanamo Bay have backed away from statements about the young Pakistani's allegedly extremist ways, according to a new Pentagon transcript.

The recantations about 27-year-old Majid Khan are part of a 39-page transcript from a hearing to review his status as an enemy combatant. The document, released Tuesday, provides a window into Khan's detention since Pakistani agents raided the Karachi flat where he was sleeping in March 2003.

The 1999 graduate of a Baltimore-area high school told the military tribunal that his U.S. captors have tortured him through isolation, humiliation and other means. With at least two suicide attempts this year, Khan describes trying to chew through an artery in his elbow. He also tried a monthlong hunger strike in January and lost nearly 30 pounds.

Khan denied he is a member of al-Qaeda and rejected allegations that he plotted attacks in the U.S. and Pakistan with one of the group's most dangerous operatives, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

But “it is very difficult to prove that someone is not al-Qaeda,” Khan told the military officials overseeing his April 15 status hearing. “How can a person that paid $2,400 United States dollars in tax every month to the United States be an enemy combatant?”

The U.S. government believes that Khan wanted to destroy U.S. bridges, blow up gas stations and poison water reservoirs, as well as kill Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

After his capture, Khan was held secretly by the CIA for more than three years. Last summer President Bush transferred Khan and more than a dozen other high-value detainees to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they face proceedings under the new U.S. tribunal system.

Some of the government's allegations against Khan stem from interrogations of other accused and convicted al-Qaeda members, as well as several days of FBI interrogations of his family. But in statements submitted to the review tribunal, three individuals disputed – and in some cases denied – their earlier statements.

Yet from the transcript it's difficult to discern the truth. It describes how Iyman Faris – an al-Qaeda operative now jailed for 20 years for plotting to destroy New York suspension bridges – came to dinner at the Khans' residence in mid 2001.

At one point, Faris told investigators that Khan told him about fighting the jihad and the struggle in Afghanistan. Faris also said that Khan referred to al-Qaeda's No. 3 leader, Mohammed, as an uncle.

In a statement submitted for the military hearing, however, Faris says he was tricked into making this statement because the FBI threatened to take him to Guantanamo. He said he came to the Khan's residence to discuss investing in the family's gas station business.

He also said it's “an absolute lie” that he said Khan wanted to martyr himself in an assassination plot against the Pakistani president.

Saifullah Paracha, a wealthy Pakistani businessman held at Guantanamo, said he never had any discussions with Khan about money, despite statements made by his son, Uzair, during FBI interrogations. Uzair is now serving a 30-year prison sentence for providing material support to terrorism.

The government believes that Khan wanted to loan the Parachas $180,000 to $200,000, which could be readily available for an al-Qaeda attack. “I never had any conversations with Majid Khan regarding any financial matters whatsoever,” Saifullah Paracha said.

The military says that Khan's father, Ali Khan, told investigators that his son became very religious and developed anti-American feelings in 2003. He believed his son had come under the influence of destructive family members in Karachi.

The elder Khan now does not recall making such a statement. “Where and when did we make these statements that you claim we made?” the father asked. “Who did we make these statements to, exactly? The government has refused to give us this information.”

Khan's lawyers with the Center for Constitutional Rights say that if such statements were made, Khan's father was not in his right mind after his son's arrest.

Gitanjali Gutierrez, the lead attorney, said the administration is using misrepresentations, threats and coercion to justify detentions. “But there is no real sound evidence that has ever been presented,” said Gutierrez, who has been unable to meet with her client.

Khan's father said the FBI followed his family so closely in Maryland that they would sometimes pull over and ask agents for directions when they got lost while driving.

In his own torture report, Khan also alleged that he has been mistreated, including in military custody for the last seven months. He said Guantanamo is worse than some CIA prisons.

An unknown amount of information was censored by the military, which Gutierrez contended would provide significant details, especially about his CIA detention. When the military deleted information from the public transcript, it inserted brief markings indicating material was withheld.

The CIA says it does not use torture. Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, also said Khan “has been treated humanely while in Department of Defense custody.”

Khan complained about being isolated – without sunlight – and given the wrong eyeglasses prescription, which made his eyes hurt and his head spin. The military twice shaved his beard, he says, to humiliate him and offend his religion.

He also said he doesn't like the military's cheap toiletries. “They themself use the best kind of stuff, but they give us cheap branded, unscented deodorant soap to wash ourselves with,” he said.

Khan did admit to one infraction, confessing that he was willing to manipulate his expired travel papers to help another refugee get into the United States. But that, he said, does not make him a terrorist.